Bunny Book Reviews

I’ve read two bunny books in the last week! Both tell the story of sharing your life with rabbits, or rather one tells the story of sharing your life with bunnies and the other sharing your life with people.

When a Man Loves a Rabbit

This book tells the story of Bruce Atchison’s life with rabbits and what he learnt along the way.

I love the descriptions of his bunnies behaviours, they are so very accurate. I think everyone with a house rabbit will be able to relate to the endless efforts to bunny proof and the inventiveness of rabbits. Gideon’s antics made me laugh and his behaviour after finding his new warren under the bed blocked off reminds me very much of Scamp:

He acted like an addict, desperate for his fix and obsessed with finding a way under it. He tried every corner, hopped on top of the bed and even squeezed between the mattress and the wall. I couldn’t believe his manic persistence as he kept looking for an opening to that enticing world under my box spring.

The book covers several decades of living with bunnies, and Bruce is very honest about the mistakes he made along the way. There are sad parts and difficult decisions  – expect to cry as well as laugh. It’s a long time since I got my first rabbit, and, like Bruce, I can think of lots of things I did wrong and would do differently now – some make me cringe.  I think a lot of new owners find it very daunting trying to navigate the conflicting information about how to care for bunnies and feeling like you’re getting everything wrong – it’s nice to read that you’re not the only one!

Bruce often credits the PetBunny and EtherBun mailing lists with helping him understand his rabbits and improve their lives. It really demonstrates the power of online support groups, when people take the time to answer questions and post information in can make a difference in the lives of rabbits hundreds of miles away. It makes a nice circle that Bruce is now passing on what he’s learnt to other rabbit owners so their bunnies lives can be improved too.

You can find Bruce’s blog here: http://bruceatchison.blogspot.co.uk/ the link to buy the book is in the sidebar.

The Diary of an Inspirational Bunny

Whilst the first book was written from the point of view of a person, this book shares the other side of the story, how a rabbit feels about living with a person.

It tells the story of a year in the life of Harvey, a nine year old mini-lop, who lives as a house rabbit with Jane Toseland.

Harvey frequently offers sage advice on topics such as how to avoid bedtime and what to do when your owner blames you (quite incorrectly) for scattering hay all over the place:

There is only one thing a rabbit can do in such circumstances and that is, turn his back. … Back turning is an art because once you have done it you have to stick to your guns. If you give way when they wave a piece of carrot under your nose you have lost the argument.

It’s extremely funny, although I’m sure Harvey would not appreciate you laughing at some of the indignities he has to put up with (don’t mention vet trips). It should be required reading for anyone thinking of getting a house rabbit, but keep it away from your bunnies if you don’t want them learning any new tricks for trouble making.

You can find Harvey’s blog here: http://harvey-diaryofaninspirationalbunny.blogspot.co.uk/

To get your copy of the book, send a cheque for £6.50 made out Jane Toseland to

Figaro Publishing
20, Meadow Lane
Little Houghton,
Northamptonshire
NN7 1AH

Free Rabbit Behaviour Issues Ebook

Whilst we are on the topic of books, I’ve been writing a series of articles on solving rabbit behaviour problems. The first few are on my website but I’ve turned the full 10 articles (17,000 or so words!) into an ebook which you can download from Amazon. It’s completely free this week (18th-22nd) in aid of Rabbit Awareness week. Here are the links, please pass them around so bunny owners can get it whilst it is free (Amazon puts a limit on how long you can offer it for free).

UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B009AV4FUQ
US: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009AV4FUQ

The following problems are covered:

1. My rabbit chews at the cage bars
2. My rabbit won’t come near me
3. My rabbit hates being picked up
4. My rabbit is aggressive towards people
5. My rabbit has bad litter box habits
6. My rabbit digs the carpet
7. My rabbit chews things he shouldn’t
8. My rabbit won’t go back in the cage
9. My rabbit is aggressive towards other rabbits
10. My rabbit spends all day doing nothing

Thanks for coming up with that last one Charlotte when I was stuck for ideas.

Next time I shall either be talking about the awesomeness of poop or perhaps the not so awesomeness of fireworks… I’ll let you know.

Tags: Behaviour, book

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 19th, 2012 at 7:42 pm and is filed under Book. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.